Former Prussian T 20 95 028 in the Bochum-Dahlhausen Railway Museum
...that the Prussian T 20 was the most powerful tank locomotive to be procured by the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft, able to haul a train load of 2060 tonnes at a speed of 50 km/h (31 mph) on the flat, 430 tonnes at 25 km/h (16 mph) on a 25‰ incline, and even cope with inclines of up to 70‰ without needing a rack?
Georgia Railroad 1026, an EMD GP7 on permanent display in Duluth, Georgia
...that the Prussian P 8 class of 4-6-0steam locomotives, of which around 2350 were built from 1906 onwards, remained in service on German railways into the 1970s?
5711 stands in Junee yard ready to head north on 23 September 1961
A Conrail train leaving Altoona, Pennsylvania, in 1993
...that prior to the passage of the Staggers Rail Act in 1980, Conrail was consistently unprofitable, sometimes posting losses of a million dollars a day?
A modern fusible plug showing the core of low melting-point metal
...that the fusible plug, a safety device to prevent boiler explosion by the water level of a high pressure boiler falling dangerously low, was invented in 1803 and widely publicised without patent by Richard Trevithick, builder of the first working railway steam locomotive, to counter criticism of his high pressure engine technology?
Steam locomotive with Giesl flat ejector
...that the Giesl ejector, which replaced the traditional blastpipe of a steam locomotive with several, small, fan-shaped, diverging blast pipes, from which the diffuser gets its flat, long-drawn out shape, enabled a claimed savings in coal of between 6 and 12 %?
Dining car from the Blue Train
...that South Africa's luxurious Blue Train is so exclusive, a second service called the Trans Karoo Express was introduced to convey 3rd class, 2nd class, and 'ordinary' 1st class passengers?
...that although the buffers in the very earliest days of railways were rigid (dumb buffers), they soon came to be spring-loaded, while those fitted to modern locomotives and rolling stock incorporate oleo-pneumatic shock absorbers?
The running gear of a quill drive-equipped electric locomotive
...that quill drives have been extensively used in electric locomotives to connect the traction motors and driven wheels because they smooth the drive from the motors and help isolate them from mechanical shock?
Chemnitz Culemeyer in the Saxon Railway Museum
...that the Johann Culemeyer developed the Culemeyer heavy trailer, a heavy road trailer with four axles and 16 solid rubber wheels, in 1931 to enable the transportation of goods wagons on the road for factories and other places that did not have their own railway link?
An example flying junction track layout
...that a flying junction is a railway junction at which one or more diverging or converging tracks in a multiple-track route cross other tracks on the route by bridge to avoid conflict with other train movements?
The 'Camden Tram' at the bottom of the grade upon leaving Campbelltown
...that the Camden railway line in Australia, a light railway line that carried freight and passengers but was rarely busy, had steep grades and passengers would sometimes have to disembark from the train and walk alongside it, leaving their bags on board?
US Army No. 101, a Consolidation type 2-8-0 on display at the National Railroad Museum on April 26, 2004.
DR Class 52.80, Rekolokomotive of the best-known Kriegslokomotive
...that Kriegslokomotiven were German 'war locomotives', produced in large numbers during the Second World War, whose construction was tailored to wartime economic circumstances such as shortages of materials, goods transportation (in support of military logistics), ease of maintenance under difficult conditions, resistance to extreme weather, limited life and rapid, cheap, mass production?
'Platform 9¾' at King's Cross Station
...that the fictional Platform 9¾ of King's Cross railway station, featured in the Harry Potter books and films, has been commemorated with a 'Platform 9¾' sign in the actual station building, complete with a luggage trolley ‘stuck’ halfway through the wall?
Heyl & Patterson Rotary Dumper
...that rotary car dumpers, mechanisms used for unloading certain railroad cars that hold the car to a section of track and rotate the track and car together to dump out the contents, are making open hopper cars obsolete through faster unloading time and elimination of the wasted volume under the sloping bottoms of a traditional hopper car?
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